The first steel was cut for the first of two ships this week. Quantum will splash into the water in 2014 with Anthem to follow a year later.

“We are extremely excited to celebrate this important milestone for our first Project Sunshine ship,” said Adam Goldstein, RCI’s President and CEO. “After three years of design and advance planning, this is the first step of the construction of the ship and I look forward to seeing it all come together in the coming months.”

As for the first name, Goldstein had this to say: “The new ship will be such a leap forward in vessel design and guest experiences that we thought the name Quantum of the Seas was perfectly appropriate.”

Royal has a history of firsts: Voyager Class ships were the largest at sea, then Freedom Class ships overtook them, massive in size yet dwarfed (relatively speaking) by the ground-breaking Oasis Class.

I’m assuming Royal Caribbean will do something to boggle our minds with these Quantum and Anthem.

According to Goldstein: “Royal Caribbean’s tradition of designing is ‘WOW!’”